The previous Nadal News thread had become a bit too bulky to access & post.
After considering Rafa fans' opinion in the older thread, I've made this new thread which can be used to post any news & updates pertaining to our Humble Champion from Mallorca.

Fans of other players, kindly do not troll in this thread, or your posts will be reported without a second thought.
This thread is just for posting relevant news/articles/updates/photos/match highlights/interviews etc. concerning only Nadal.

And hopefully those Fed fanatics will stay away from these thread, just like respectful Rafa fans stay away from the Eagle thread, right ? :twisted:

Click to expand...

You are aware that it was a very famous Zilla, not the God version , that actually posted so much questionable content, that numerous pages were deleted, which caused that thread to have such problems.

You are aware that it was a very famous Zilla, not the God version , that actually posted so much questionable content, that numerous pages were deleted, which caused that thread to have such problems.

Click to expand...

Wow, he sounds like he was quite the poster to have done that much damage. Is he still around?

On court Rafa Nadal has all the courage and ferocity of a raging bull. He's one of the most daunting players you could face. But get him out of his comfort zone - off the field of play - and there's something of the scared little boy about him.

It seems bizarre that this 6ft 1inch muscle-bound champion, with nine Grand Slams under his belt might suffer from even the slightest lack of confidence. However, just look at the evidence. It doesn't take a Freudian psycho-analyst to realise that all those obsessive court rituals are camouflaging possible psychological problems. Some have even suggested the player suffers from obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD).

First up is his change-of-ends bottle-arranging routine. Not only does he line up all his drinks bottles symmetrically next to his chair, but all the labels must be facing the same direction - apparently towards the baseline from which he is due to play. In between points he is fastidious about not stepping on the lines of the court. Any psychotherapist will tell you these are classic symptoms of OCD.

Then there are his clothing rituals. According the The Sun newspaper, he refuses to wear socks that rise higher than 15cm above his shoe. His bandanna "is pulled out of his kitbag an hour before play, but he doesn't put it on until just before he takes to the court". After each point he religiously towels down his face and left arm.

But it's Rafa's pre-serve ritual that really takes the biscuit. To the chagrin of both opponents and umpires, this can be interminable: adjust sweatbands, adjust bandanna, tuck hair behind ears, bounce ball exactly five times; and then, of course, there's his universally mocked underpant-pulling performance. This has nothing to do with inferior shorts - after all Nike have spent millions developing some of the world's best tennis kit. It's just another one of his nervous tics. He doesn't even seem to be aware that, live in front of thousands of spectators, and millions more worldwide on TV, he picks his pants out of the crack of his backside before every service. Often again between first serve and second serve.

Here's what his mother Ana Maria Parera says about her son's posterior picking: "You don't know how many pairs of underwear people have given him believing that the ones he has do not fit well," she revealed in a Spanish magazine. "One person sent me a letter saying we should shop for larger sizes and enclosed four pairs. It's a nervous tic and the more nervous he is... He has had it all his life. I think that he has a bottom a bit bigger than he should have."

Big bottoms aside, and God knows he needs a big bottom to propel his large frame around the court so speedily, Rafa also suffers from multiple phobias. Even as a child he had an irrational fear of thunder and lightning, something which was cleverly exploited by his coach (back then and still now), Uncle Toni. Toni told his nephew that if he didn't focus 100 per cent on his game, he would incur the wrath of the thunder gods. The ploy worked every time.

But fear of thunder is just the start. "I am afraid of a lot of things," Rafa admits. "A dog. I could be afraid of a dog that's upset, for example." Arachnophobia is an issue, too. "I hate spiders," Rafa once blogged on The Times website during the Australian Open. "Not sure if it is frightened [sic] but agggggg. Thank God I have not seeing [sic] any here. We are in Melbourne so no creepy creature where we are."

Then there's motorbikes. "I have a motorbike, but it was a present and I do not use it," he told International Tennis Magazine. "I don't ride it. I am scared about motorcycles. That's very dangerous. We only have one life."

However, the greatest insight into Rafa's weaknesses is his irrational fear of the dark. "Being home alone at night makes me a bit nervous," he told Vogue magazine. "If I'm at home I have to sleep on the sofa. I can't face going to bed. I'm there with the TV on and all the lights on. I'm not very brave about anything in life. In tennis, yes. In everything else, not very."

His mother, who rather cutely reveals that Rafa has a collection of stuffed animals alongside his tennis trophies, once told how her son called her up in the middle of the night in a panic. "He called me and said 'Mum, we have a problem'," she remembers. "'There's a power failure and I'm scared to death.' I had to tell him which drawer the batteries for the torches were in."

Press Rafa on the subject and he admits to bouts of severe anxiety. "On the tennis courts, maybe on the outside I look fearless, but on the inside, I'm scared," he once said. Another time he stated: "I think fear is a part of life."

It's interesting that 26-year-old Rafa should still live in the family home. Granted, it's a large apartment block in the Mallorcan town of Manacor, and Rafa has the run of an entire floor, but nevertheless, he still shares the building with the rest of his family. Apparently his grandparents are on the ground floor, uncle Toni and his family on the first floor, Rafa's mum on the second, and the player himself on the third.

A touch parochial, you might say, especially when you consider that fellow world top-five players Roger Federer, Andy Murray and Novak Djokovic flew the nest years ago. But a close-knit family set-up is obviously crucial to Rafa's well-being. Indeed, when his parents separated in 2009, the Mallorcan was devastated - and his tennis suffered as a result.

He even keeps his love life close to home. For the last few years he's been stepping out with local student Maria Francisca 'Xisca' Perello. While she's no frumpy girl-next-door (quite the opposite; just do a Google search for proof), it's a little strange that Rafa hasn't had his head turned by the legions of his female celebrity admirers. After the Spaniard appeared in the very steamy video for Colombian singer Shakira's hit record Gypsy, for example, there were rumours that the duo might be romantically linked, which Rafa quickly stifled.

But what's wrong with a bit of parochialism, you might ask? So what if he lives in the family home, dates a local girl, employs his uncle as coach and sleeps with the light on? It certainly hasn't done his tennis any damage.

Sure, he could move to Monaco, step out with super-models and drive fast cars. But, as they say, if it ain't broke, don't fix it.

Rafael Nadal admitted he cheated during the crucial moment of his final showdown with Novak Djokovic in the 2013 US Open. The 13-time Grand Slam champion bared it all in an interview with Spanish Newspaper El Pais.

Nadal, who's looking to reclaim the top spot in the world ranking at the 2013 China Open, admitted that he's indeed receiving tips from his trainer and uncle Toni Nadal during his matches, including the title-clinching game of his 2013 US Open duel with Novak Djokovic.

"It was in the last game, when I was serving for the match. ... I didn't know where to serve. Down the center, to the middle or to try the classic play of the wide serve and then try to hit the forehand. They told me to serve wide and that's where I served," Rafael said.

Rafael has been repeatedly accused of cheating before,including one instance which happened during his showdown with Roger Federer few years ago. Toni Nadal was hit with a $2,000 fine for coaching his nephew during the match.
Rafa's uncle coach also admitted that he was guilty of coaching his nephew to the extent that he drew the ire of opponents. One example for this is when Federer complained about Toni's coaching during a match with Rafa in Rome in 2006.
"He was coaching a little bit too much again today. I caught him in the act. I told him many times already, through the entire match in Monaco, but it seems like they don't keep a close enough eye on him," Federer said at the time, according to Larry Brown Sports.

Toni Nadal replied with this statement:
"I think all the sports make an evolution," he said. "It's not natural that you pay a coach and this coach travels to Australia and to New York to watch his player and he can't say nothing."

AOL news tennis analysts Greg Couch has a problem with the current rule, insisting it should be either revoked or reinforced.

"See, coaching has become one of those unaccepted, accepted broken rules. And that might be the problem with hitting Nadal too hard now. It's not fair when you suddenly enforce rules you have been winking at all along," Couch said.

"But worst of all is the way tennis handles this. If officials make the mistake of dumping the rule, then they need to just do it. If the rule stays, then it has to be enforced. Have the rule or don't, but you can't have it both ways," Couch added in his article.
__________________
Never be bullied into silence. Never allow yourself to be made a victim. Accept no one's definition of your life. Define yourself.

Spanish tennis ace Rafa Nadal once again tops the list of sportsmen who Spaniards would like to have a beer with. As was the case in the previous edition of this popularity ranking, he came in ahead of Real Madrid goalkeeper Iker Casillas and Formula 1 driver Fernando Alonso.

According to the 'Who would like to have a beer with?' ranking by Spanish brewers association Cerveceros de España and based on a survey by MADISON Market Research – which interviewed 2,000 people on-line in February 2013 – the eight-time Roland Garros winner still rates above his fellow countrymen.

The world number one headed the ranking for the fourth consecutive year, and even increased his share of the vote from 22 to 33 percent. He came in well above Iker Casillas, who garnered 19 percent of the vote, and the podium was completed by Fernando Alonso with 12 percent.

Another picture from Rafa's practice session.
Rafa still practices on the courts of the Club Tenis Manacor where he began playing tennis at the age of three-four.
Rafa has said: "In Manacor, I'm normal. People have known me since I was a little kid. They congratulate me when I win something, but they treat me like everybody else."

Monte Carlo is easily the most exciting tennis tournament of the year so far, apart from the Australian Open- it's no wonder so many people are hyped up for it. Nadal is going for his 9th Monte Carlo title- nobody in the Open Era has won 9 of any title. And if Nadal wins Roland Garros and Barcelona, he'll have won 9 titles at grand slam, ATP 1000 and ATP 500 level- a testament to Nadal's dominance.

The previous Nadal News thread had become a bit too bulky to access & post.
After considering Rafa fans' opinion in the older thread, I've made this new thread which can be used to post any news & updates pertaining to our Humble Champion from Mallorca.

Fans of other players, kindly do not troll in this thread, or your posts will be reported without a second thought.
This thread is just for posting relevant news/articles/updates/photos/match highlights/interviews etc. concerning only Nadal.

Awesome . Let us all fans just talk about rafa news and rafa . Don't encourage posts by haters and even passive posts by not replying. And report all haters on this thread. If we all report, it will make a difference

Awesome . Let us all fans just talk about rafa news and rafa . Don't encourage posts by haters and even passive posts by not replying. And report all haters on this thread. If we all report, it will make a difference

Awesome . Let us all fans just talk about rafa news and rafa . Don't encourage posts by haters and even passive posts by not replying. And report all haters on this thread. If we all report, it will make a difference

Nadal’s most productive month is April, when he has earned 15 of his 62 titles, followed by May (11), June (9) and July (7).
He has won at least one title in April every year since 2005. Nadal has a 48-2 career record in Monte-Carlo and 40-1 in Barcelona.

Rafa Closing In On 300 Clay Wins
Nadal, who has the best winning percentage on clay (.934), is two victories away from becoming the 11th player in the Open Era to win at least 300 matches on the surface. Guillermo Vilas owns the most clay victories with 644.

Rafa is the best known Spanish athlete abroad, ahead of Fernando Alonso (Formula One racing driver), Iker Casillas (the captain of the Spanish national football/soccer team) and Pau Gasol (a professional basketball player for the Los Angeles Lakers of the NBA)
The survey was carried out in twelve countries: USA, Australia, Russia, UK, France, Italy, Germany, Spain, Mexico, Brazil, Chile and Argentina.http://www.rtve.es/deportes/2014040...-mas-conocido-internacionalmente/913040.shtml